Peg O My Heart | Page 4

Italy "Peg del Mio Cuore" is the name of the Italian "Peg", while her Spanish admirers and translators have named her "Rirri."
Over 194,000 copies of the novel have been sold in the United States, while the British Empire has bought 51,600 in novel form. In play form 3000 copies have been sold to date. The new film "Peg o' My Heart" in nine reels is being distributed throughout the entire world, and while innumerable companies are playing the comedy throughout the United States, Canada and the British Empire, an internationally-known composer, Dr. Hugo Felix, is at work upon the score of a "Peg" operetta in collaboration with its author, so that the young lady may continue her career in musical form.
The present work is submitted in its original form with the addition of illustrations taken from the film recently made, through the courtesy of the Metro Pictures Corporation, for which acknowledgment is gratefully made.
It is believed that these statistics are unique in theatrical and publishing history for it will now be possible in any large city to read or witness "Peg o' My Heart" in the five phases of her career to date, viz., novel, printed play, acted comedy, photo play and operetta.
J. Hartley Manners.
The Lotes Club, New York City, December, 1922.

CONTENTS
BOOK THE FIRST
The Romance of an Irish Agitator and an English Lady of Quality
I The Irish Agitator Makes His First Appearance II The Panorama of a Lost Youth III St. Kernan's Hill IV Nathaniel Kingsnorth Visits Ireland V Angela VI Angela Speaks Her Mind Freely to Nathaniel VII The Wounded Patriot VIII Angela in Sore Distress IX Two Letters X O'Connell Visits Angela in London XI Kingsnorth's Despair XII Looking Forward
BOOK THE SECOND
The End of the Romance
I Angela's Confession II A Communication from Nathaniel Kingsnorth III The Birth of Peg
BOOK THE THIRD
Peg
I Peg's Childhood II We Meet an Old Friend After Many Years III Peg Leaves Her Father for the First Time
BOOK THE FOURTH
Peg in England
I The Chichester Family II Christian Brent III Peg Arrives in England IV The Chichester Family Receive a Second Shock V Peg Meets Her Aunt VI Jerry VII The Passing of the First Month VIII The Temple of Friendship IX The Dance and its Sequel X Peg Intervenes XI "The Rebellion of Peg" XII A Room in New York XIII The Morning After XIV Alaric to the Rescue XV Montgomery Hawkes XVI The Chief Executor Appears on the Scene XVII Peg Learns of Her Uncle's Legacy XVIII Peg's Farewell to England
BOOK THE FIFTH
Peg Returns to Her Father
I After Many Days II Looking Backward III An Unexpected Visitor
Afterword

CHAPTER I
THE IRISH AGITATOR MAKES HIS FIRST APPEARANCE
"Faith, there's no man says more and knows less than yerself, I'm thinkin'."
"About Ireland, yer riverence?"
"And everything else, Mr. O'Connell."
"Is that criticism or just temper, Father?"
"It's both, Mr. O'Connell."
"Sure it's the good judge ye must be of ignorance, Father Cahill."
"And what might that mane?"
"Ye live so much with it, Father."
"I'm lookin' at it and listenin' to it now, Frank O'Connell."
"Then it's a miracle has happened, Father."
"A miracle?"
"To see and hear one's self at the same time is indade a miracle, yer riverence."
Father Cahill tightened his grasp on his blackthorn stick, and shaking it in the other's face, said:
"Don't provoke the Man of God!"
"Not for the wurrld," replied the other meekly, "bein' mesef a Child of Satan."
"And that's what ye are. And ye'd have others like yerself. But ye won't while I've a tongue in me head and a sthrong stick in me hand."
O'Connell looked at him with a mischievous twinkle in his blue-grey eyes:
"Yer eloquence seems to nade somethin' to back it up, I'm thinkin'."
Father Cahill breathed hard. He was a splendid type of the Irish Parish-Priest of the old school. Gifted with a vivid power of eloquence as a preacher, and a heart as tender as a woman's toward the poor and the wretched, he had been for many years idolised by the whole community of the village of M--in County Clare. But of late there was a growing feeling of discontent among the younger generation. They lacked the respect their elders so willingly gave. They asked questions instead of answering them. They began to throw themselves, against Father Cahill's express wishes and commands, into the fight for Home Rule under the masterly statesmanship of Charles Stuart Parnell. Already more than one prominent speaker had come into the little village and sown the seeds of temporal and spiritual unrest. Father Cahill opposed these men to the utmost of his power. He saw, as so many far-sighted priests did, the legacy of bloodshed and desolation that would follow any direct action by the Irish against the British Government. Though the blood of the patriot beat in Father Cahill's veins, the well-being of the people who had grown up with him was